A Cooler August Week 2021

 Those hot days are miserable.  Thankfully, the tree tents helps the apples.  They are starting to ripen now, and only a few were scalded where we couldn't cover the tree branches. 

Worked on a revamp of the pull pen that we used for the meat birds last spring.  We needed a larger coop for the left over chicks that we have yet to sell.  So the pull pen is now a convert-a-coop. Ha. We have read about having chickens digging in the dirt around the apple trees to help fertilize and have the birds eat the larva that drop out of the apples in the fall. We will see if  this concept works. I doubt that it will hurt. So the young birds in their convert a coop will be digging and fertilizing around the two apple trees and eventually, they will be out in the field if we can't sell them all this fall. 

The fall portion of the garden is picking up now that it is cooler outside. Bell Peppers and Tomatoes in their respective grow areas seem a lot less stressed. 

Made up a couple batches of pickled Cukes and Eggs. Tried a different recipe using apple cider vinegar along with the white distilled vinegar. Not bad. Has a nice crisp flavor. 

Another Blast of Heat Alert 2021

 So this one may not get up to 115F like last time, but it will be three days over 100F each day.  Apples are ALMOST ready to be picked but need about two more weeks. This intense heat from the sun will bake them on the trees.  So we covered them as best we can, mostly from the south and west directions and, well, hopefully we don't get any strong winds that take our covers off to so distant locations. There are garden row covers and I think they will work for this situation. I guess we shall see if my "sun screen" works on apples. 

All trees and shrubs have been deeply watered this past week. I will continue to water the area in the field that the chickens have devoured.  I seeded with alfalfa and clover and they are still babies.  Hoping they survive this. 

Moving plants to shaded locations that are in pots and I may need to cover the beans and scallions in the garden with some type of shade. I think the carrots and corn will be okay.  I did restart my sweet onions but I put them in a tub of dirt so that I can move it where ever for best growing purposes. I have the cukes in a big tub of dirt too, with empty buckets all around to help keep the slugs away from the young cukes.  Two are almost ready to harvest/pickle.  More are on the vines and the bees are finding the flowers just perfect for pollination purposes. So it's a win-win this year. 

Also covered the tomato grow area with a shade cloth, and I now have my fingers crossed that we don't lose any more plants to the extreme heat, like we did the sweet onions and the garlic. :( 

Apologies for the fuzzy photos. It was getting dark and I need intense light for less fuzzy photos. 

The Foreigners Summer Start 2021

 We are trying to sell these little cuties.  We wanted to try some mail order chicks this summer. They all arrived in good shape and have all survived for the first three weeks.  Three more weeks and they will be ready to go outside. 

Week One - they all have the same stature but the Andalusians are super fast runners. We have one Black Andelusian that we can't tell from the Australorps yet.  The Blue and the Splash Andalusians are interesting to watch since they stand out from the crowd.

Week Two  - Andalusians are still super fast and are always nervous. We finally figured out which one was the Black Andalusian. All the chicks are starting to get wing and tail feathers. They are all starting to stand more upright and don't squat quite as much. 

Week Three - Even more upright, but the Australorp are the tallest and most upright of them all. The chicks are starting to fly up onto the roost and they like to dust bathe in the wood shavings. The Australorps and Andalusians have the longest tail feathers. The Sussex have the most colorful wings.